By: Steve Pados, Accord Speedway Media
The sweltering heat of July seemed quite cool to the drama and theatrics that played out the on the quarter mile stage of the Accord Speedway on Friday evening as former track champion Andy Bachetti delivered a masterful performance to capture his third victory of the season at Accord before a packed house on Kingston Nissan night at the Ulster County speedplant. The six division show was completed at 11:16 PM and within five minutes after the final checkered flag, the skies were sprinkling some light rain down on the departing crowd. In a tremendous turnaround from one season ago when the speedway suffered twelve rainouts during the season, the speedway has now gone through twelve straight weeks of captiviating racing excitement for Promoters Gary and Donna Palmer who are successfully celebrating their tenth year of ownership and promotion of the Accord facility.
David Bush and Garden Stater Rick Holsten brought the 25-car VP Fuels/Rhinebeck Ford Modified starting field down for the start of the 30-lap headliner and it was the “Freskeeto Bandito” David Bush cranking up the revs to take control in the early laps of the event. Bobby Hentschel had his quick Advanced Concrete sponsored hot rod up to the task as he slid into the runnerup slot. Bush led the first six circuits before yielding to Hentschel. Hentschel moved out to a slight advantage but behind him the stars were beginning to align themselves as one by one the galaxy of Accord driving stars began to make their way to the forefront.
The first to become a player was Andy Bachetti as the “Wild Child” hustled his Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming/PMC/Bachetti’s Auto Sales sponsored racer into the runnerup slot from 11th starting position on the grid. Bachetti slipped into the runnerup slot by clicking off the fastest times of the evening with consistent 13.3 second laps to run Hentschel out of real estate by lap-14 and then executed the winning pass at the midway point of the event and set sail for the Lucas Oil Products Winners Circle. Once in front, Bachetti had the field covered and raced to his third victory of the 2010 season at Accord. Bobby Hentschel enjoyed his best run of the season with a solid runnerup performance and looks to be player down the stretch run of the remaining points race. Mike Ricci borrowed one of the Tyler speed buggys and raced from 12th starting position to claim third place money and Jerry Higbie raced from 13th starting posotion to land in fourth place when the checkered flag fell to retain his point lead on the tough field of Modified racers. Outside invader Danny Johnson raced from a 16th place start to round out the top five. David Bush hung tough to finish sixth in the main and the remainder of the top ten consisted of Vinny DeCicco, Scott Ferrier, Clinton Mills, and Danny Creeden. Fourth place in points man Ronnie Johnson was eleventh and fifth place man Danny Tyler fell out on the 25th lap of the event resulting in a 22nd place finish.
The Healey Brothers Spec Sportsman main event had two first year performers lead the parade to the start off the event. Former Slingshot star Kyle Van Duser took off from his outside front row spot to grab the lead over former flat track Motorcyle champion Jimmy Wells. Van Duser who had encountered some tough moments of late, put it all behind him on this night as he raced to the win in a wire to wire triumph. Jimmy Wells was the runnerup in his best performance to date with Chris Stevens, Danny Cross and Jason Roe completing the top five.
Kyle Wright proved to have all of the right stuff to lead the Bryant’s Towing Pure Stock event in a wire to wire win. The win didn’t come easy for Wright as breathing down his tailpipe for the entire encounter was three time winner in 2010 Gary Ronk. The soon to be married Ronk was a close second to Wright on this night. Last week’s winner Phil Johnson was third with another former Slingshot division wheel twister Brian Fink grabbing his best performance to date with a fourth place finish and point leading Mike Deyo continuing to show his consistency with another top five performance.
The Lightning Sprints were back in action for the second time of the season and Ralph Utter enjoyed a command performance as he took the lead on turn two of the first lap and proceeded to dismantle the field to claim his first win of the season. Scott Goodrich, the victor the last time the troupe was in town, raced from scratch position to land in the runnerup role with New Englanders Peter Dance, Dale Friedly and Mark Taylor dicing it out through the entire event to claim the remainder of the top five positions.
The Friedlander DC Landscaping Pro Stock event wasn’t pretty as fenders and nosepieces seemed to turn up on every corner of the 20-lap feature attraction. Ralph Ronk led the first four tours around the race track before yielding to Emerson Cargain on lap five. Cargain, who came into the event as the point leader, would add to his laurels as he claimed his fourth win of the season in the knock down-drag’em out affair. John Roese kept the race close as he came in to the event gunning for his third straight win but settled for second in his Ford powered hot rod. Bill Rion drove the Batmobile to third place with Lenny Helmich and Ralph Ronk completing the top five.
The Camper’s Barn Sportsman headliner had Steve Krom grab the lead at the start of the event only to spin out in front of the pack before the second lap would be recorded in the books. On the restart, Greg McCloskey powered away to the lead for the next four laps only to have “Buckshot” Mike Barrett dig down deep on a restart to lead laps six and seven of the event. On another restart, McCloskey grabbed the lead back and led the remainder of the distance despite heavy pressure from a pack of Sportsman bandits such as defending track champion Brian Krummel, Anthony Perrego, Darrell Ford and Mike Ruggiero. The “Kingston Cruiser” Greg McCloskey held off all advances to claim his second win of the season at Accord with Krummel in for the runnerup money, Perrego in third, Ford in fourth, Barrett was fifth and Ruggiero finishing up in sixth place.
MUDPLUGS:
Despite the intense heat in the area, the speedway was kept in great racing condition throughout the evening by Gary Palmer and staff. Palmer and his staff continue to work their magic on the speedway grounds throughout the season and the facility is kept squeaky clean and pristine for the fans to come out and enjoy a great night of racing activity. The recent addition of the speedway sign at the front gates welcoming the fans to the speedway gives a great indication of how much the Palmer Family is thankful of the great racing fans who visit the speedway. The new soundboard, with additional music being added in the past week, is a work in progress through the hard working efforts of Michael Hatzistergos. Restaurant owner Gus Zygmunt and company were once again in-house to watch the great racing action at the speedway.
New cars and drivers always seem to arrive at the speedway on a weekly basis and this week had 32 Modified hopefuls attempting to be part of the feature attraction. This week Josh Gaylord made his first appearance of the season and while he didn’t make the starting field indicated he would be back as time permitted. With Mike Ricci out of motors with the Mastrocola race cars, he borrowed a fast ride from the Tyler stables to keep his title hopes alive. The same situation has forced the popular Jeff Richardson to be a spectator the last couple of weeks. Rick Wegner replaced the big block in their car for a small block powerplant but didn’t make the transfer to the feature event. Kenny Moulton made his first 2010 Accord start but was an early retiree in the Sportsman feature event. Hank Morin, who a regular last season in the Pro Stock ranks, made his first start of the season on Friday evening in the former Charlie Rose machine. Morin was credited with a 8th place finish in the main event. New Lightning Sprints drivers for the evening included Joe Sczapa, Jim Rooney, Mike Cokely and Fred Hoffman.
With a few of the LS drivers way for a big event in Indiana, the excitement of the return of the Lightning Sprints to Accord has been crowd and driver pleasing and more cars will be available when the Lightning Sprints are added to the weekly card starting with the July 23rd event. Goodrich Construction will be the added bonus support sponsor for the evening for the Lightning Sprints and will bump the purse for the little creations to a full $500.00 to win the event.
Modified heats were captured by Rick Holsten, Bobby Hentschel, Scott Ferrier and Dom Roselli while Rick Mill captured the consolation event and Geoff Quackenbush recorded the win in the Lucas Oil Products B-Main. “The Quack Attack” opted to start the main event and the remainder of the drivers competing in the B-Main receive free pit passes for the following week at the speedway in a great gesture from the Palmer Family. Sportsman heats went to Joe Giachinta is nice run along with Jeff Hulseapple and Mike Barrett. Spec Sportsman heats were won by Chris Stevens and Kayla Smykla. Pure Stock heats went to Steven Kanuk and Phil Johnson and the Sprint Dash went to Ralph Utter.
The ARDC Midgets make their lone New York appearance in 2010 this coming week at the speedway. The July 16th event will feature 1990 Chili Bowl winner Johnny Heydenreich as the Grand Marshal for the event and “Hot Rod John” will have his own GRP Chassis/Aries powerplant sponsored Seals-It racer ready to take on the best of the ARDC crowd for the prestigious event. John is a 36-time career feature winner within the ARDC ranks and is celebrating his 50th year as a race car driver in a brilliant career in the sport. John was the Hut Hundred winner in 1987, the Pikes Peak winner in 1998 and has enjoyed a great career in the USAC Silver Crown ranks where he enjoyed five consecutive seasons of top ten in points performances. Many notables are always in attendance for the event as the ACOT Oldtimers will also make their annual appearance at the same time. Longtime car owner John Givens is expected to attend as is the first two Grand Marshals of the event Jimmy Maguire and Ken Brenn Sr as well as former ARDC club president Ron Lauer.
The 71 year old organization heads into the Accord event with 6-time feature winner Steve Buckwalter leading the way. Drew Heistand with two Accord Speedway wins to his credit
in the past two years, will be looking for the three-peat this time around. A top flight supporting staff with the likes of Ryan Smith, Eric Heydenreich, Frank Polimeda, Bruce and Tim Buckwalter, Brett Arndt, Nick Wean, PJ Garguilo and rookie Alex Bright will make for an entertaining evening on the Accord high banks.
RESULTS:
VP Fuels/Rhinebeck Ford Modifieds: Andy Bachetti, Bobby Hentschel, Mike Ricci, Jerry Higbie, Danny Johnson, David Bush, Vinny DeCicco, Scott Ferrier, Clinton Mills, Danny Creeden, Ronnie Johnson, Rick Holsten, Tom Hindley, Richie Eurich, Robbie Green, Rick Mill, Mel Schrufer, David Hinsch, Robbie Rowe, Geoff Quackenbush, Mark Pullen, Danny Tyler, Richard Smith, Dom Roselli, Jimmy Johnson
Healey Brothers Group Spec Sportsman: Kyle Van Duser, Jimmy Wells, Chris Stevens, Danny Cross, Jason Roe, Ken Boniface, Joe Judge, RJ Smykla, Patrick Murphy, Tyler Boniface, Kayla Smykla, Kyle Rohner, Tommy Johnson, Ken Hinsch, Phil Recchio, Eric Moon (DNS) John Sundlof
Friedlander’s DC Landscaping Pro Stocks: Emerson Cargain, John Roese, Bill Rion, Lenny Helmich, Ralph Ronk, Clarence Smith, Jim Sykes, Hank Morin, Torin Betterton, Edgar Hedges, John Rood
Bryant’s Towing Pure Stocks: Kyle Wright, Gary Ronk, Phil Johnson, Brian Fink, Mike Deyo, Craig Cuneo, John Woinoski, Steven Kanuk, Jason Krom, Ryan Johnson, Paul Aragon, Tim Brown, Joe Narok, Steve Cooper, Gene Helms, (DNS) Ray Tarantino
Camper’s Barn Sportsman: Greg McCloskey, Brian Krummel, Anthony Perrego, Darrell Ford, Mike Barrett, Mike Ruggiero, Kevin Ward, Kenny Ferrier, Jesse Marks, RJ Dailey, David Coene, Phil Goetschius, Ryan Stortini, Brad Szulewski, Jeff Hulseapple, Ray See, Will Dietz, Mike Senecal, Steve Krom, Joe Giachinta, Ken Moulton
Lightning Sprints: Ralph Utter, Scott Goodrich, Peter Dance, Dale Friedly, Mark Taylor, Mike Cokely, Steve Lapine, Will Casazza, Joe Sczapa, (DQ) Fred Hoffman, (DNS) Jim Rooney
Racing every Friday night from April through September. July 16th finds the good folks at B Millen & Son Recycling as the headline sponsor for the evening and all five divisions in action plus the return of the ARDC Midgets back to the speedway for their annual show of the season. Midget driving great Johnny Heydenreich will serve as the Grand Marshal for the event and will also be in competition on this night. (Special Event Pricing will be in place for the event) Pit Gates open at 4:30; Spectator Gates open at 5:00; Hot Laps are at 6:30 and the racing begins at 7 PM.  Regular show admission is Adults $12.00 (12+) Children $3.00 (11+ under) Indoor Seating $20.00; Family four pack special: 2 Adults + 2 Children and $20.00 in Food Vouchers for $40.00 (a savings of $10.00)
Midweek Madness hits again on Wednesday evening July14th and runs through September 1st with MWM Supernationals set for Saturday night September 18th. For more information regarding the great racing action found at the Accord Speedway, call the speedway hotline at: 845 626 3478 or log-on to their newly designed and well documented website at: http://www.accordspeedway.com
We are easy to find at 299 Whitfield Road, two miles off Route 209. At the Accord Speedway…………………………….
ATrail Of Dirt Leads Right To Our Door